The Styles of Tango

Many terms are used to describe different styles of tango, such as tango milonguero, tango apilado, tango Villa Urquiza, estilo del centro, estilo del barrio, tango de salon, tango fantasia, tango Nuevo, etc. 

The fundamental cause of stylistic differences lies in human psychologies. People who are feeling-oriented incline to personal experience and inward feelings. People who are movement-oriented incline to steps and outward look. The feeling-oriented dancers, of whom many are milongueros, have developed the milonguero style, which is danced in a close embrace with slight leaning (apilado) against each other, using simple and compact steps. These dancers often dance at the clubs in downtown Buenos Aires where the floors are crowded—hence the term estilo del centro, or downtown style. Milonguero style features the embrace.

The movement-oriented dancers, of whom many also are milongueros, have developed the Villa Urquiza style, which is danced in a loose embrace with an upright posture, using stylish steps, more pauses and adornments. These dancers like to dance at the neighborhood clubs, such as Sin Rumbo in Villa Urquiza, where the floors are less crowded—hence the term estilo del barrio, or neighborhood style. Villa Urquiza style features the footwork.

Milonguero style and Villa Urquiza style are commonly recognized as tango de salon, or social tango. Social tango is a loose term broad enough to include stylistic differences and narrow enough to exclude anti-social behaviors. Social dancers may be feeling-oriented or movement-oriented, but they all dance at the clubs and abide by the milonga codes.

Social tango dominated the culture of Buenos Aires from mid 1930s to mid 1950s. From 1940 to 1950, some twenty-three dancers, who were more movement-oriented than their Villa Urquiza colleagues, met regularly at the Club Nelson to work on new steps, and they gave birth to a new style know as tango fantasia. Danced in open embrace, tango fantasia dramatized tango with showy figures and fancy footwork, and separated itself from social tango by using choreography and not conforming to milonga codes.

From 1955 to 1983 Argentina was ruled by a succession of military juntas whose policies discouraged social tango. Curfews were enforced and people were routinely checked for their police records. Many were arrested or simply disappeared for aligning with the previous Peronist regime. As a result, people stopped dancing socially, and tango went underground. The absence of social tango during that period gave tango fantasia an opportunity to take the stage. When the military rule ended in 1983, it was this style that led the revival of tango.

From tango fantasia, some movement-oriented dancers went further to create tango Nuevo, a hybrid style combining tango and non-tango elements, such as exotic music and eccentric steps. Tango Nuevo not only separates itself from social tango, but from tango entirely. If tango moves in that direction, it will cease to be tango as it was created for, as it already is the case in so-called alternative milongas.